Rhiannon Ingle
One man clearly had a very good day out at the casino after taking home more than $1.2 million ($8 million in today's standards) from the establishment in less than a month.
The lucky gambler, Richard Jarecki, ended up nearly bankrupting the Italian casino after cashing out big bucks on the roulette wheels.
Jarecki has since been hailed as the 'Gambling Doctor' for his data-driven approach to winning his fortune. Take a look:
Advert
For most people, the roulette wheel is totally random game of chance and chance alone.
Gamblers take turns each spinning the fateful wheel which provides several different outcomes for the player as betting results are determined by what section of the quick-spinning wheel the ball lands on.
However, one man was able to crack the casino code and figure out how to win a fortune predicting the not-so-random roulette results.
Doctor Richard Jarecki was studying medicine back in the 1950s and was regarded as one of the world's most renowned medical researchers.
With a background in science, Jarecki had an incredible ability to mentally retain numbers and figures as well as analyse data.
With a background in data analysis, Jarecki decided to try his luck with the world of gambling and figure out a way to trick the system.
And, with the help of his mathematician wife, Carol Fuhse, the two did exactly that.
The bizarre method that Jarecki clocked on to has since been referred to as 'wheel bias'.
Definitely in it for the long-run, the doctor spent months rigorously watching and recording hundreds of thousands of roulette spins.
He noticed that while the decks of cards, dice and other casino equipment were changed every night - the old roulette wheels remained in place for up to decades.
Naturally, he discovered the inevitable wear and tear that the tables endured over the years and theorised whether the miniscule defects could ever result in statistical anomalies.
And, to answer his question, they most definitely could.
After sometimes tracking up to 10,000 spins on a single wheel, Jarecki concluded that the wheel was biased to certain numbers.
While the work seems tedious, there's no argument that the potential reward was unmatched.
When confident he'd cracked the code, Jarecki began his gambling spree and flipped his first $700 into an impressive $40,000 in a single night.
After wracking up huge lump sums of money, many press outlets at the time were eager to figure out his secret.
Clearly not wanting to broadcast the method for the world to try out, Jarecki lied and said he used a supercomputer from the University of London to gain his advantage.
No surprise considering his wheel bias method almost bankrupted the San Remo casino, based on the Italian Riviera, which held a wheel full of defects ready to be exploited for high profits.
Unlike American wheels, the roulette tables in Europe only have 37 numbers opposed to 38 - giving Jarecki even more of a statistical edge in the game - twice as much to be precise.
He studied the machine for months as he scrutinised the data collected from hours upon hours of thorough observation.
The mastermind bet huge amounts of money per spin - clearly confident with his fool-proof method - and nearly took the San Remo for all that they had.
The casino ended up banning Jarecki for 15 days following his record-breaking winnings and, on the 16th day, Jarecki returned once again.
The doctor then won even more money from the establishment leaving it so low on cash, they had to issue Jarecki with an IOU.
All in all, Jarecki and his team earned over $1.28 million in profit - a staggering $8 million when adjusted for today's inflation rates.
The San Remo casino eventually solved their problem of wheel bias by replacing all of the venue's old roulette wheels to ensure that Jarecki or anyone else could never nearly bankrupt them again.
Regardless, it's clear that Jarecki's story proves that the house doesn't always win.